Show rundown for 6/26/200425:16

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Tim Kurkjian

The 2004 Major League Baseball season is almost half over. And some normally awful teams, like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers aren't settling for last place this year. Tim Kurkjian of ESPN and ESPN The Magazine joins us from Bristol, Connecticut to talk about that and a Cincinatti Red who's got his smile back.

The Minnesota Twins

ListenThe Minnesota Twins, despite poor home attendance and injuries, are in great position to win a third consecutive division title. Bill visits with the small-market team that somehow keeps on winning.

Prisoners Versus Pachyderms

Olympic Heat

ListenIf IOC president Jacques Rogge is right, the Athens games in August may not be the best Olympics ever, but it certainly could be the hottest. Athletes can expect highs to average in the 90s and notoriously bad air quality. We look at how some athletes are dealing with these problems.

The Newest Olympic Sport

ListenThe only new sport at the Olympic Games in Athens will be women's freestyle wrestling. The U.S. women's Olympic Wrestling team consists of four athletes who competed against men in high school and college. Jon Kalish met with the team as it trained in New York this week and he has this report.

Commentary

ListenBill comments on writer W.C. Heinz who was recently inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame at age 89.

The NBA Draft and More with Charlie Pierce

ListenBill Littlefield and "Only A Game" analyst Charlie Pierce discuss: Preps, foreigners and the NBA Draft, McCarthyism and the modern athlete, and surfing while you surf.

The Match

ListenBruce Schoenfeld's new book "The Match" recounts the stories of two tennis players and the friendship that sustained them. You've heard of one of the players: Althea Gibson. Unless you're a student of Wimbledon history, you may be familiar with Gibson's sometime-doubles partner and long-time friend, Angela Buxton.